


out of the bleakness

by NatureTheZafara



Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Early stage nightmare disorder, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, I don't know if I'm using the right tags I'm so sorry, Inspired by Music, M/M, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Post-Series, Present Tense, Sleep Deprivation, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-03-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 08:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1380955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NatureTheZafara/pseuds/NatureTheZafara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's the third night this week." In which Mike suffers nightmares and Joel helps the only way he knows how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	out of the bleakness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> If I have misinterpreted/misinformed anything with this fic, especially in regards to nightmare disorders, please tell me.
> 
> Many thanks to [gizmocrat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gizmocrat) for helping me with this fic. I hope I didn't screw up.
> 
> Inspired by the song '[Bad Dream Hotline](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7osYV8AfJN8)' by FOE.

Joel doesn’t sleep as soundly as he used to.   
  
He waits, eyes closed in half-sleep, with his arms wrapped around Mike lying beside him. About now would be a good time to slip into a deep sleep, but Joel doesn’t quite allow himself to. Not fully, anyway. Not with what’s been happening for the past nights. A small uncomfortable sigh escapes his lips in his state of semi-consciousness. Slowly what’s left of his resolve breaks, the dull throb in his head begging for rest, and for a brief moment Joel drifts off into the darkness of sleep.   
  
It’s the hoarse yell and the sudden jolt from beside him that pulls him back awake.  
  
“Mike?,” Joel groggily asks, slowly sitting himself up and switching on the small lamp beside their bed. Mike’s short, shaky breaths confirm his worries; not only that, but he’s hunched over and his face is pale and sweaty and he looks like he could throw up at any minute. “Mike?”  
  
“Joel? Joel, oh my God, I—”  
  
“Shh, shh, it’s okay, honey, calm down,” Joel whispers. “You might wake up the ‘Bots.” Gently he begins to rub his partner’s damp back and shoulders, in spots he knows would relax him. He continues rubbing in silence, even as Mike’s breathing slows and his body relaxes beneath his touch.   
  
“Nightmare?”  
  
Mike looks away from Joel and nods, as if it were something to be ashamed of.  Joel’s face crumples and he sighs.  
  
“It’s the third night this week,” he says quietly. After a brief pause he manages a weary but gentle smile towards Mike’s direction. “Wanna talk about it?”  
  
Mike hesitates at first, but a few more gentle backrubs lets everything spill out from him.  
  
“I-It was the Satellite,” he says, his eyes still downcast. His breathing hitches and he trembles as he speaks. “We were back in space for some reason, and then all of a sudden a meteor or something crashed into the Satellite. There was smoke and fire everywhere, then the Satellite started falling apart and we were gonna crash into Earth. And then the oxygen got cut, I-I couldn’t breathe and then I floated out into space for some reason, then I saw you, and Tom and Crow floating too, except you were all dead. Th-then I started choking and…”  
  
 Mike’s close to hyperventilating again, so Joel softly shushes him and adds a bit more pressure to his backrubs to calm him down. “Oh, honey,” he murmurs. He tries to imagine it – the impact of the meteor on the vessel, the fire, looking at the bodies of his companions and into the vastness of space as it suffocates him. It’s not as graphic as Mike’s previous nightmares, but even then it must’ve felt terribly real. Joel adjusts himself and leans his head slightly on Mike’s shoulder with a sigh. “Don’t worry about it,” he assures him, “We’re never going back to space, the ‘Bots and us are gonna be just fine. Okay?”  
   
Mike’s breathing soon normalizes to slow exhales; he shudders a bit and looks at Joel with an almost apologetic look in his eyes. “I’m just…” He motions feebly toward the direction of bathroom. “I’m gonna go… bathroom…”  
  
“Sure.” Joel pulls himself away. Mike lumbers off the bed and towards the bathroom door, leaving it open as he enters. The faint sounds of running water and splashes and deep breaths pour over while Joel mulls over the situation. By now he’s become painfully aware of how heavy his eyes feel and the night cold and the dull throb of pain in his head. It’s been weeks since he had a full night’s sleep. He yawns.  
  
He doesn’t remember anymore when exactly the string of nightmares began. The ‘Bots have told him once that since they returned to Earth Mike had the tendency to wake up in the middle of the night screaming. When the three moved in with him several months ago and when he and Mike started dating he had expected it, and sure enough there were nights when he would wake up to him yelling his head off from a vivid bad dream. Every time that happened Joel would comfort him, ask him about the nightmare and assure him that nothing bad was going to happen, until both would be able to go to sleep content and fear-free.  
  
But the nightmares have been coming in an alarming frequency lately. Joel couldn’t count how many times within the past weeks Mike’s woken up in sweats from a bad dream. The effects are showing too. He’s been slipping in and out of consciousness at work; dull headaches were becoming common occurrence. When Gypsy visited yesterday she commented that he and Mike looked more worn-out than when she last saw them. (A feat, Tom quipped, for Joel to look even more sleepy-eyed than he already did. Joel just laughed.)   
  
It’s Mike he worries about the most, however. Two days ago he got into trouble for slowing down at his current temping job, even threatened with firing. His headaches are more frequent; sometimes they were so bad he’d have to stay at home from work a few times. It takes him a long time before he finally comes to bed at night, as if he’s stalling having to go to sleep. But the worst change is the listlessness. He’s become less enthusiastic about things as more terror-filled nights pass, and even in waking hours when he smiles or laughs there’s a lingering sadness that not even the ‘Bots’ antics or Joel’s kisses is able to take away completely.   
  
Joel sighs and closes his eyes. Honestly, he doesn’t mind staying up to comfort Mike from those horrid dreams, if it helps. But it would be lying to say he doesn’t want a full night’s rest. And what if it wasn’t enough? All those instances of Mike waking up pale and breathless, all the increasingly real nightmares he described, the sadness and fatigue in his eyes and face, flash in Joel’s mind. What would the next nights be like? More importantly, what would happen to Mike? The nightmares are stealing him away, bit by bit, and Joel finds himself unsure of what to do.  
  
The sound of running water stops. Joel opens his eyes to see Mike come back from the bathroom, just having washed his face. Despite that he looks more tired than ever. Joel gives him a small smile. “Feeling better?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“You sure?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, I’m totally fine.” Mike smiles awkwardly at Joel, an attempt at reassurance, then lets out a yawn and scratches his eyes. He makes no move towards the bed. “I’m good now.”  
  
“Okay.” Joel shifts himself up straight and lightly pats the space beside him. “You… you ready to go to sleep?,” he asks with a yawn.  
  
At that Mike hesitates. For a moment he just stands there, not making any move towards the bed. “Oh, um,” Joel begins, “it’s okay if you don’t want to yet, we can just…”  
  
“N-no, Joel, it’s okay.” The awkward smile returns, almost a grimace, and Mike makes his unsure way back by his partner’s side on the bed. “I was just, um, making sure I really was ready to go to bed, y’know? Just in case I forgot something.” He forces a chuckle as he settles down beside Joel. “Yep…”  
  
Joel doesn’t believe Mike for a second, but decides not to confront him about it for now. Not especially after what he’d just gone through. Another yawn escapes him as he settles down himself, facing Mike. “You sure?”  
  
“Yeah, I’m okay.”  
  
There is a moment of silence between them, which Mike then breaks with a sigh.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “About waking you up again and all.”  
  
“Aw, no, hey,” Joel manages a weary smile. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”  
  
“You sure?”  
  
“Completely sure.”  
  
“You sound tired.”  
  
Joel only sighs. “You do too,” he replies quietly, leaning over and nuzzling Mike’s forehead. “Just rest now, okay? Don’t worry about it.”  
  
“Okay, okay, fine.” A small smile creeps on Mike’s face. “’Night. Love you.”  
  
“Love you too, honey.”  
  
With that, Mike closes his eyes, leans his head on Joel’s shoulder and tries to sleep.  
  
Joel, however, doesn’t let himself to shut down just yet. Instead he waits, eyes open and silent, watching as Mike shifts and adjusts in his place to get comfortable enough to drift off. He could feel his eyes blearing and his head pounding with more dull pain, but he brushes them off. He wants to make sure. Mike’s eyes are closed, but Joel can see the distress written on his face as he makes his slow way towards unconsciousness, like he’s anticipating something dreadful. Joel hums a little tune as he absentmindedly runs his fingers through Mike’s sandy hair. It goes on like this for a very long time.  
  
Finally Mike stops shifting around and settles down completely; his breathing is slow and evenly-paced and his eyes are shut tight and his expression is almost peaceful. He even makes a few snoring sounds. By now Joel feels he’s close to crashing completely, and is almost thankful when he’s sure Mike has drifted off. However the uncertainty is still there. He takes another look at his partner’s sleeping face and sighs. What could he do? If only there were some way to chase away the nightmares, he would.   
  
With another, gentler sigh, Joel leans over and plants a kiss on Mike’s forehead – protection, he fancies, from any other nightmare that might come to terrorize him for the rest of the night. He turns to switch off the small bedside lamp, then snuggles closer to Mike, snaking his arms around him as he does so.  
  
He closes his eyes, and soon slips into a dreamless darkness.


End file.
